Is that the phrase that Bush used to describe:

A) The Republicans defeat in this midterm election.

B) Georgia’s beat down of Auburn today.

C) Both of the above.

The answer…

Probably C.

A quick look at some of the stats shows how the score (37-15) makes the game look closer than it really was.  AU quarterback Brandon Cox, who must have been channeling Rex Grossman, threw for 35 yards - yes in the entire game - and completed as many passes to Bulldogs as he did to Tigers (4 each).  Auburn was 0-7 on third down attempts.

I’m not one to call for a normally productive player to be benched at the first sign of trouble, but something was wrong with Cox today.  No one has ever accused him of having a canon for an arm, but he usually makes good decision to offset his lack of arm strength.  He seemed to aggravate his ankle early in the game (I think it was his first snap) and his mechanics never looked very sound afterward.  His passes floated very badly, which contributed to his four picks.  I don’t think it would have changed the outcome of the game (Auburn’s D didn’t exactly show up either), but Cox should have been kept on the sideline.

But misery loves company.  Alabama lost, albeit a good bit more respectably, to LSU (more below).  Louisville lost on Thursday.  Texas lost.  Cal lost.

The Tide lost by two scores and couldn’t dent the scoreboard in the second half, but they took appropriate chances and were thisclose to heading into the halftime break with the score tied at 21.  Shula looked like a coach with a clue for the first time in my opinion.  He was actually calling plays like he wants to keep his job.  Alabama has the talent to play with any team in the country (they’ve proven that throughout the year), but they have had the coaching to play with any team in Conference USA.

I really don’t know what to expect out of the Iron Bowl next week.  Auburn responds unpredictably when punched in the mouth.  Against Arkansas and Georgia the phrase “the wheels fell off” is pretty accurate, but against Florida and LSU they “left it all on the field” (cliché alert).  Alabama may have saved their best game for Auburn and I’m not sure the Tigers will be up to the challenge.  Then again, I have been told that I am the prototypical pessimistic (I prefer pragmatic) Auburn fan.

Being a jaded Auburn fan, I am ready to cry shenanigans if Arkansas wins out (including in Atlanta) and is left out of the championship game.  In 2004 Auburn was the victim of mediocre preseason expectations.  There are simply a lot of voters who don’t think its acceptable for a clearly superior team to move ahead of another team in the rankings unless the higher (higher meaning closer to one, which is really lower, but I digress) ranked team loses.  It is deeply flawed logic and it may well bite Arkansas.

The Hogs opened the season by losing to getting creamed by one of the best teams of the modern era.  But Arkansas was playing without Darren McFadden (he played, but wasn’t 100% due to a toe injury), who I think may be the best back in the nation, and with a wide receiver playing quarterback.  Since then they have hit their stride and now may be the second best team in the nation.

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This entry was posted by Brian on Sunday, November 12th, 2006 at 12:08 am and is filed under College Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.